Merlicious 1 Read online

  The normally beautiful azure waves that defined Port Emerald Bay seemed a furious tempest of wind and water tonight. Even the seagulls seemed to cower in the face of the rising storm sweeping through the area at a breakneck pace.

  Jill remained quiet and stoic in the face of every city manager's nightmare—a Florida tropical storm that quickly closed the businesses and offices of Port Emerald. What's more, the storm had driven some residents into the city's community center, a casual recreation site that had been transformed into a makeshift shelter.

  Compelled to tend to her citizens during this tumultuous time, Jill had surrendered a long-planned vacation at a distant tropical haven.

  It's just as well. She ran a weary hand through a disheveled crop of long-neglected hair. “After planning a luxury cruise with my fiancé, he up and runs off with our travel agent to enjoy the trip I helped fund.” She shook her head and frowned. “When they dock in that exotic island paradise, I hope they ‘drink the water'—lots of it. Even Miss Patty Perfect won't look so hot as she guzzles down an hourly ration of maximum strength laxative."

  "Jill!"

  Looking sharply upward, Jill's eyes widened as they beheld the vision of her chronically disapproving superior, Mayor Lydia Cone.

  "Was I venting aloud again, Mayor?” Jill raised her eyebrows.

  Lydia nodded and patted Jill's shoulder. “In yet another attempt to curb your rampant angst, I'm assigning you evening snack duty.” The petite redhead handed Jillian a cardboard box overflowing with potato chips, cheese snacks and chocolate bars. “Have fun."

  Smiling dryly, Jill turned to distribute her evening's supply of refreshments among the refugees of Tropical Storm Blaine, the severe natural phenomenon that, while thankfully sparing the lives and properties of Port Emerald residents, had left many with minor flooding and without electrical services.

  While the storm no longer posed a serious threat to the area and its people, Blaine's strong winds still painted a scary picture across Port Emerald Beach, accented by flying sheets of sand and dirt. An unearthly blend of ebony and azure tinged with a daunting hint of blood red colored the angry skies.

  Even so, nothing prepared Jill for the sight that met her disbelieving gaze as she returned from her evening chore.

  Casting a casual glance out a nearby window, she froze as her eyes beheld a jarring sight: the fallen figure of a man lying alone on the beach, a tattered blanket his only defense against the mercy of the battering winds.

  Mouth agape, Jill dropped the cardboard box and ran from the building with quick, frantic steps. Ignoring the warning cries of those behind her, she raced across the beach toward the fallen man, the hard wind like an unforgiving wall that blocked and slowed her every move.

  When she finally reached him, Jill fell to her knees and gathered his limp form into her desperate arms. Startled by the power of nature, she gritted her teeth as the raw violence of the incoming rain drove her sturdy body backward.

  Despite that, she maintained her hold on the unconscious man, a tall, muscular being who felt like an unyielding rock in her arms.

  "Let's go, big guy.” Jill cringed as she struggled to drag his massive form back across the beach toward a shelter that at this point seemed a distant destination.

  It was only as Jill approached the open doorway of the shelter that she was able to inspect the stranger in her arms, a young man whose sandy blond hair extended in soaked luxury to his waist. His skin held the tint of sunshine; his face was planed and perfectly sculpted. His eyes remained unopened.

  "Sam!” With a high-pitched screech, Jill summoned the shelter's resident medic. “We need you!"

  Nodding sharply, the unusually solemn older man immediately claimed his new patient and carried his body to a nearby cot in the shelter lobby. He administered CPR as a nervous Jill said a silent prayer of hope.

  For the next hour, she watched with uncertainty as Sam revived and tended to the mysterious visitor, apparently knocked unconscious by some errant debris.

  When his eyes finally opened, the man's dark-eyed gaze immediately swept the room around him.

  "Who?” His words escaped a pair of full and sumptuous lips in even, honeyed tones. “Who is the angel that saved me?"

  Jill's own eyes widened substantially as she heard the stranger's words. Then she started laughing. Hard. “Me? An angel? Cha. Good one,” she smirked.

  Her laughter subsided as the man's ebony-eyed stare grew deeper and more luminous, reflecting his apparent awe. Her fiancé certainly never regarded her with such unbridled, uh, admiration? Yeah. That must be it.

  "I'm Jill Gregory, city manager of Port Emerald,” she greeted. The city manager who didn't have time to put on a shred of makeup this morning. Drat it.

  The stranger looked at her with what seemed to be unconcealed admiration, as though she were the most beautiful woman in the world.

  "You saved me.” He gifted her with a soft gentle smile that was quite angelic.

  "Hey!” Sam, now seated at a nearby refreshment table, totally blew the mood. “Don't forget me, buddy. I didn't particularly enjoy giving mouth-to-mouth to another guy. Give me some credit here."

  The stranger nodded politely to the smirking medic then returned his attentions to Jill.

  "You are a brave woman.” Although still strained, his deeply toned voice gained infinite strength as he spoke. “I am in your debt."

  Shrugging, Jill took a seat beside the reclining man and squeezed his masculine hand.

  "It's nothing,” she said.

  She gasped as the man sat up abruptly and planted his scrumptious lips on her cheek.

  "To my people,” he said, “it's everything."

  Jill drew back, blinking.

  "Your people?” She cocked her head curiously. “Are you from a foreign country? If so, where is it, and how do I get there? I want specific, turn-by-turn instructions, mind you."

  The man guffawed outright.

  "It's not so far away.” The handsome stranger extended his hand. “I'm Jaiden."

  * * * *

  After a few hours, Jaiden's health and well-being seemed restored and assured. The shelter's other occupants—even the throng of adoring females who morphed into fluorescent Florence Nightingales in the face of his peril—retired to the dining table where they finally enjoyed their evening snacks.

  Jill, for her part, brought her grateful patient a plate overflowing with chips and cookies.

  "These look delicious!” He attacked the treats with a boyish enthusiasm that brought a smile to her face. “I've never eaten anything like this before."

  Jill cast a self-conscious glance toward her own gently rounded stomach. “With your build, it doesn't surprise me,” she shrugged.

  Jaiden nodded. “A diet of seaweed and water plants is beneficial to one's health,” he agreed.

  Jill raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Could be,” she allowed. “I must say, however, that standing out on the beach in the eye of a tropical storm was not such a health-conscious move. What were you doing out there?"

  Jaiden's beam faded, and his glance shifted noticeably downward. “I had nowhere else to go."

  His soft, mournful tones cut Jill to the core. Regretting her scolding words, she graced his shoulder with a soft, comforting hand. “You don't have a home?” Her tone gentled considerably.

  Jaiden nudged his sweet hostess, obviously touched by her warmth. “I do,” he reassured her. “My home is at sea and always has been. Yet when the winds howled and the waters grew strong, my body was tossed ashore, jarringly and violently. I grabbed an abandoned blanket and took cover on the beach. That's the last thing I remember before I awakened in your shelter."

  Drawing a deep, labored breath, Jill leaned forward to wrap her arm around Jaiden's muscular shoulders. She drew him into the secure depths of a warm, comforting hug. “You poor man.” She kissed his planed cheek. “Do you think they'll ever recover your houseboat?"

  Jaiden's brow furrowed deeply as he co
nsidered her question. “I have no boat,” he said finally.

  Jill frowned. “You said you lived at sea,” she reminded him.

  Jaiden cleared his throat and shifting uncomfortably. “It—it's hard to explain.” Quickly changing the subject, he gestured broadly around them. “So I guess you're the boss here, huh? I'm impressed."

  "The boss? Not exactly,” Jill smirked. “Lydia Cone—who lovingly addressed me as a friggin’ good Samaritan idiot when I pulled you in from the storm—is the mayor of Port Emerald. I'm the city manager and head cupcake distributor."

  Jaiden laughed. “I love a woman with a sense of humor.” He gently patted her back.

  Even the most casual of Jaiden's touches sent chills coursing toward the base of Jill's spine. Still, she snorted sharply and rolled her eyes in the face of this assertion. “A blasted good thing, considering that I'm wearing no makeup and my granddad's overalls today."

  Filled with empathy, Jaiden clicked his tongue and kissed the hand that lay so docilely on his shoulder. “You help people.” He chucked her chin. “This in itself makes you beautiful.” Gently, Jaiden rubbed his thumb across the breadth of her palm. “Those girls on the beach, for all their makeup and fake fingernails, boast attitudes that seldom match their alleged physical beauty.” His voice lowered once again to a sad, hushed tone. “They're so cruel, Jill. They call me a freak."

  Jill started, shaking her head in disbelief. Personally, she found nothing ‘freakish’ about the flawless man before her. “Oh, I don't blame them,” she wrinkled her nose in confusion. “I can't stand physically perfect males who also happen to be earth-shatteringly charming. We just can't have that, no siree."

  The laughter Jill expected was instead an intent stare and the tender squeezing of her fingers. “I'm different, Jill.” he gestured awkwardly, her hand still grasped in his. “How do I explain it to you?"

  "Explain it to her tomorrow, lover boy."

  Jill and Jaiden jumped as they heard Sam's sharp, shrill voice, noticing he now sported a pair of superhero pajamas as he reclined on a nearby cot.

  "Some of us would like to sleep now."

  * * * *

  Taking the hint Sam so graciously offered, Jillian directed Jaiden to the center's shower area, which at this late hour was vacant.

  "Unfortunately, Sam has no extra pairs of superhero pajamas.” Jill barely managed to keep a straight face as she uttered this sad proclamation. “I checked. However, I'm sure we could rustle up a comfortable T-shirt and shorts."

  "That's cool, Jill. I usually sleep in the nude."

  Drat it to blazes. Averting her eyes as she heard the shower water pounding hard against that perfect body supplied enough of a challenge. Why did he have to go and say that?

  "Yes, well,” Jill cleared her throat loudly. “Many people share this shelter. You won't be sleeping alone.” Pausing, she pursed her lips curiously. “Do you usually?"

  His soft, melodic chuckle sent more chills down her spine. “Yes, Jill. I'm single."

  Mulling over this savory factoid, she just barely noticed when the alluring stranger came to stand naked beside her.

  And, heaven help her, she looked.

  Jaiden's chest appeared even more well-defined when lined with dewy droplets, as did his impeccable set of washboard abs. His legs were long and finely toned and led up to rock hard thighs and a trim waist.

  Try as she might, Jillian couldn't avoid a hooded peek at that long, hard, utterly sumptuous shaft; under her perusal, it rose to full attention.

  Biting her lip, she finally dragged her heated gaze away from the naked man. “I'm so sorry,” her voice trembled with embarrassment; interlaced, she feared, was a hearty helping of desire. “I shouldn't have been looking."

  "Look all you like, my rescuer.” Jaiden's voice lowered to a seductive purr, and he pinned her with a gaze that was dark and smoldering. “And touch, if you like."

  He drew closer, those flawless muscles flexing perfectly as he moved. “You've helped so many people in these past few days.” His catlike smile shone warm and seductive. “Take me as your trophy, your reward."

  Jill trembled in spite of herself at his tempting words. However, she turned slowly, almost painfully, away from the source of her temptation. “You don't need to thank me that way, Jaiden. I'm not that hard up, and I don't need any man's charity."

  She stopped as he stepped before her, once again presenting a gorgeous vision difficult to resist. “As you can see, dear lady, I am ‘hard up,'” he gestured toward his erect shaft. “I've wanted you since the moment we met."

  "For real?” Jill wrinkled her nose in disbelief.

  "For real,” Jaiden nodded. “I'm sure we can find a private place somewhere in the building."

  "I can't,” Jill thrust a forbidding hand between them. “It's not professional, and it's not...” she shrugged. “It's just too soon for me."

  Jaiden shook his head and squinted in confusion. “Too soon for what, love?"

  Jill offered him a weak smile. “I guess it's too soon to talk about it as well,” her voice cracked. “Let's just say that Tropical Storm Blaine isn't the first storm I've weathered this year."

  Grabbing a nearby towel, Jaiden nodded in understanding as he wrapped his appealing lower half in the depths of sea blue terrycloth.

  I think he's even hotter that way. Jill bit her lip. Drat it.

  "I won't pressure you, Jill.” Jaiden flashed her a seductive smile as he passed. “Just know that I'm here, willing and very eager to fulfill your desires."

  "Yes, well, fair enough,” Jillian cringed at her own awkward sentiment. Great. I was already dreading going to bed alone. Now I'll go to bed alone and painfully frisky.

  Her concerns shifted as she emerged once again into the main shelter area. Immediately, she spotted what, sadly, had become an all too common sight at the community center, a troubled mother trying to comfort a child who failed to understand why they couldn't go home.

  In this case, the parent was Marianne Moore, cradling her toddler son Jacob lovingly in her arms.

  "It's all right, baby,” she cooed, shrugging helplessly in Jill's direction. “I would sing him a lullaby, but my singing only makes him cry more."

  "I hear ya', sister,” Jillian rolled her eyes. “I tried karaoke once, and they requested the immediate and unconditional return of the microphone—under penalty of law."

  Again, Jillian's senses were immediately soothed by the sound of Jaiden's low, deep chuckle.

  Turning, she saw he had donned the tight tank top and downright sculpted blue jeans she had retrieved from a clothing donation bin at the community center.

  Talk about a worthy contribution. She stopped just short of licking her lips.

  These same lips spread into a warm, tender beam as Jaiden, sporting an understanding smile, knelt to the side of Marianne's cot.

  "People of my kind are known for their ability to carry a tune quite successfully,” he shrugged. “Perhaps I could sing to the little one."

  Soon the atmosphere around them overflowed with the notes of a wordless tune, a smooth, seamless melody that soothed their senses.

  Little Jacob, for his part, fell immediately to sleep. His mother and Jillian relaxed as they listened to the intoxicating notes of Jaiden's sweet song.

  When he ceased singing, Jillian felt relaxed and revitalized. And she was more than pleased to escort the singer to his evening's resting place, a cot situated in the corner of the community center rec room.

  "If you need anything, I'm sleeping in my office,” she grinned as she pulled a warm blanket tightly under Jaiden's chin.

  She felt her face flush as he seared her lips with a moist, warm kiss. “If you need anything,” he whispered, “I'm right here."

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  Chapter Two

  Jill soon retired to her cot in the office. Although she closed her eyes, sleep came only in the form of short, restless spurts plagued by frequent nightmares.

  T
he demon that haunted her sleep was neither a menacing wind nor a fanciful creature of dreams. It was a plain, unassuming face that appeared to her in several forms.

  First, he stood at her doorstep, offering her a freshly cut bouquet of glistening ruby-hued roses. Then he knelt on bended knee at the center of her living room, offering her a lifetime of love and commitment.

  Then he just walked away.

  A loud, sharp sob erupted unbidden from the depths of Jill's throat. Quickly, she turned her head into her pillow, trying to smother the grief that plagued her mind, heart and being.

  But someone already heard.

  "Jill.” Jaiden's warm, intimate tones lent immediate succor to her soul. She didn't resist as he gathered her lovingly into his strong arms. “What's wrong, sweetheart?” He cradled her in his embrace.

  Shaking her head, Jill used tentative, trembling fingers to wipe away her tears. “I'm just worried about the st ... storm,” she stammered.

  It was Jaiden's turn to shake his head. “You were so strong this evening, Jill. You doled out orders and supportive hugs in just the right order.” Beaming proudly, he waved an admiring hand in her direction. “Even in these awful circumstances, it's evident you love your job.” He used strong, tender fingers to wipe every last tear from her cheek. “Now tell me what's really wrong.” He kissed her forehead.

  With a deep sigh, Jill rested her head against his bare, massive chest. Somehow, this feels darned comforting.

  "To tell you the truth, Jaiden, I wasn't supposed to be here tonight.” She nestled closer. “I was supposed to be on a luxury cruise ship with my fiancé."

  Jaiden looked at her, dark eyes wide. “You're engaged?” His voice was tinged with what sounded suspiciously like keen disappointment.

  Jill grinned in spite of herself. He said that like he actually cared. She paused to give herself a mental high-five. Aloud she said, “Not anymore. The man I've dated since college recently broke a three-year engagement. Then he took off with our travel agent.” She rolled her eyes heavenward. “I guess he really dug her ‘overnight package.’”